My study is NOT as a climatologist, but from a completely different perspective in_x000D_ which I am an expert … For decades, as a professional experimental test engineer, I have analyzed experimental data and watched others massage and present data. I became a cynic; My conclusion - 'if someone is aggressively selling a technical product who's merits are dependent on complex experimental data, he is likely lying'. That is true whether the product is an airplane or a Carbon Credit.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes skepticism towards the claims made about technical products, especially when they rely on complex data.
Burt Rutan highlights his perspective as an experimental test engineer, advocating for a critical view of technical claims that depend on complex data. He suggests that if someone is overly aggressive in selling such products, there is a strong likelihood that they are misrepresenting the truth, which can apply universally across various industries, from aviation to environmental credits.
In practice
In a presentation about the importance of critical thinking and data literacy, you might quote Rutan to emphasize caution about data interpretation.
[A]ll knowledge is one. When a light brightens and illuminates a corner of a room, it adds to the general illumination of the entire room. Over and over again, scientific discoveries have provided answers to problems that had no apparent connection with the phenomena that gave rise to the discovery.
Science has faith. We make postulates. We can't prove those postulates, but we have faith in them.
Why is there space rather than no space? Why is space three-dimensional? Why is space big? We have a lot of room to move around in. How come it's not tiny? We have no consensus about these things. We're still exploring them.
I argue that for every country to have an independent fuel cycle is the wrong way to go. Because any country which has a complete fuel cycle is a latent nuclear weapons country, in the sense that it is not far from making a nuclear weapon.
Water is the key to dealing with the twin challenges of poverty and growth.
We wish to discuss a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid. D.N.A. This structure has novel features which are of considerable biologic interest.
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